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"In 1962, the Commonwealth Immigrants Act hastened the process of South Asian migration to postcolonial Britain. Half a decade later, now is an opportune moment to revisit the accumulated writing about the diasporas that have been formed through subsequent settlement, and to probe the ways in which the South Asian diaspora could be re-conceptualised. Writing the City in British Asian Diasporas takes a fresh look at South Asian diasporas in the postcolonial period and will have multi-disciplinary resonance worldwide. The meaning and importance of the local, multi-local and trans-local is explored through a comparison of five British-Asian cities: Bradford, the East End of London, Manchester, Leicester and Birmingham. Analysing the 'writing' of these differently configured cities since the 1960s, its main focus is the significant discrepancies in representation between differently-positioned texts reflecting both dominant institutional discourses and everyday lived experiences of a locality. Part I offers a complete, yet still highly contested, reading of each city's archives. Part II examines how the arts and humanities fields of history, religion, gender and literary/cultural studies have all written British Asian diasporas, and how their perspectives might complement the better-established agendas of the social sciences. Providing an innovative analysis of the growing South Asian communities and their multi-local identities in Britain today, this interdisciplinary book will be of interest to scholars of South Asian Studies, Migration, Ethnic and Diaspora Studies, Sociology, and Anthropology"--Read more...

Writing "Bradistan" : across the comains of social reality / Seán McLoughlin --
Representing British Bangladeshis in London's East End : the global city / John Eade --
Writing British Asian Manchester : vernacular cosmopolitanism on the "Curry Mile" / Virinder S. Kalra --
Discrepant representations of multi-Asian Leicester : institutional discourse and everyday life in the model multicultural city / Seán McLoughlin --
Between the city lines : towards a spatial historiography of British Asian Birmingham / Richard Gale --
South Asian histories in Britain : nation, locality and marginality / William Gould and Irna Qureshi --
Writing religion in British Asian diasporas / Seán McLoughlin and John Zavos --
Writing British Asian women : from purdah and the "problematic private sphere" to new forms of public engagement and cultural production / Emma Tomalin --
From writing to embodied vernacular cosmopolitanisms : the British Asian city and cultural production / Ananya Jahanara Kabir.

Abstract:

Presents the study of South Asians in Britain and beyond. Interrogating the concept of diaspora by probing the ways in which the South Asian diaspora could be re-conceptualised, this title provides an analysis which is grounded in a sense of rooted and connected locations that do not necessarily privilege the homeland.Read more...

Reviews

Editorial reviews

Publisher Synopsis

How have British cities been transformed by the settlement of Asian immigrants and in what ways did these cities crucially shape newcomers' lives? Like a kaleidoscope refracting alternative patterns, the answer to this question lies, this marvellous collaborative volume shows, in the multiple voices writing the Asian diaspora's urban experience - anthropologists, sociologists, poets, novelists, oral and cultural historians, politicians, policy-makers and journalists. Avoiding sweeping, essentialist generalisations, the book's comparative scholarship and fine attention to detail demonstrate the depth and subtlety with which the Asian diaspora in Britain has been researched and analysed. Recommended reading for anyone teaching on migration and diaspora, and a must for new researchers on the Asian diaspora. Pnina Werbner, Keele University Britain's cities have been indelibly shaped through centuries of migration and settlement. In this wonderfully evocative and richly textured book, the authors trace the historical and contemporary inscriptions of five iconic British Asian cities - Birmingham, Bradford, Leicester, London and Manchester. Exploring multiple ways and scales of 'writing' the city, these essays remind us that 'all cities are global cities', woven from diasporic and local (hi)stories, journeys and the imagination of home. Claire Alexander, University of ManchesterRead more...

""In 1962, the Commonwealth Immigrants Act hastened the process of South Asian migration to postcolonial Britain. Half a decade later, now is an opportune moment to revisit the accumulated writing about the diasporas that have been formed through subsequent settlement, and to probe the ways in which the South Asian diaspora could be re-conceptualised. Writing the City in British Asian Diasporas takes a fresh look at South Asian diasporas in the postcolonial period and will have multi-disciplinary resonance worldwide. The meaning and importance of the local, multi-local and trans-local is explored through a comparison of five British-Asian cities: Bradford, the East End of London, Manchester, Leicester and Birmingham. Analysing the 'writing' of these differently configured cities since the 1960s, its main focus is the significant discrepancies in representation between differently-positioned texts reflecting both dominant institutional discourses and everyday lived experiences of a locality. Part I offers a complete, yet still highly contested, reading of each city's archives. Part II examines how the arts and humanities fields of history, religion, gender and literary/cultural studies have all written British Asian diasporas, and how their perspectives might complement the better-established agendas of the social sciences. Providing an innovative analysis of the growing South Asian communities and their multi-local identities in Britain today, this interdisciplinary book will be of interest to scholars of South Asian Studies, Migration, Ethnic and Diaspora Studies, Sociology, and Anthropology"--"@en

"Writing "Bradistan" : across the comains of social reality / Seán McLoughlin -- Representing British Bangladeshis in London's East End : the global city / John Eade -- Writing British Asian Manchester : vernacular cosmopolitanism on the "Curry Mile" / Virinder S. Kalra -- Discrepant representations of multi-Asian Leicester : institutional discourse and everyday life in the model multicultural city / Seán McLoughlin -- Between the city lines : towards a spatial historiography of British Asian Birmingham / Richard Gale -- South Asian histories in Britain : nation, locality and marginality / William Gould and Irna Qureshi -- Writing religion in British Asian diasporas / Seán McLoughlin and John Zavos -- Writing British Asian women : from purdah and the "problematic private sphere" to new forms of public engagement and cultural production / Emma Tomalin -- From writing to embodied vernacular cosmopolitanisms : the British Asian city and cultural production / Ananya Jahanara Kabir."@en